The "black man" often associated with owning Gatwick Airport is Adebayo Ogunlesi, a Nigerian-born lawyer and investment banker. He is the chairman and managing partner of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a private equity firm that manages over $100 billion in assets. In 2009, GIP led a consortium that purchased a majority stake in London Gatwick Airport for approximately £1.5 billion. While GIP sold a 50.01% stake to Vinci Airports in 2019, Ogunlesi and his firm remain significant shareholders and influential in its operations. Ogunlesi’s success story is legendary in the finance world; he attended Oxford and Harvard, served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and held senior roles at Credit Suisse before founding GIP. Often nicknamed "The Man Who Bought Gatwick" in Nigerian media, he is a prominent figure in global infrastructure and was recently involved in a massive deal where BlackRock acquired GIP, further solidifying his status in the financial elite.